Grain shocker



July 28, 1931.

R. C, LIVESAY GRAIN SHOCKER Filed March 9; 1929 4 Sheets-Sheet l W TLESi2 1 R c. LIVESAY GRAIN SHOCKER :July 28,1931.

Filed March 9, 19 9 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 July 28, 1931. R. c. LIVES/ Y GRAINSHOGKER Filed Ma rch 9, 1929 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 July 28, 1931. R. c.LIVESAY 1,816,438

GRAIN SHOCKER File d March 9, 1929 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented July '28,1931 UNITED TATES- I ROBERT o. LIVESAY, or MOLINE, ILLINOIS,- ASSIGNO'RTo DEERE & COMPAN or MOLINE, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION or ILLINOIS GRAINsnocxim Application filed. March 9, 19291 Serial No. 345,787.

This invention relates-to grain shockers of the type shown and describedin Letters Patent No. 1,626,612, granted May 3,1927, to C. C. Kellogg,and No. 1,652,280, granted December 13, 1927, to C. C. Kellogg and N.lfIelloggJr. Such machines comprisemeans for receiving thebundles ofgrain from the binder deck of the harvester and depositing them in orupon a receiving frame or deck adapted to support the number of bundlesrequired to make up a shock, and tobetilted to deposit such bundles onthe ground back ofthe shocker, with their butt ends lowermost, in theform of a shock. Before the accumulated bundles are; so deposited,-theyare bound together by. anencircling loop of twine which is knotted bythe operation of suitable knotting devicesthat form a part of theshocker mechanism. I The devices by which the bundles of grain aretransferred to the receiving deck areoperated' by power derived from asuitable source, suchas the bull wheel of the harvester, or through-asuitable power take-off on the tractor,- where the implement is tractordrawn. 6

' My present invention is concerned only with the receiving deck onwhich the pile of bundles that form the shock isaccumulated,

, and the mechanism for tilting to deposit the shock on the ground, and,therefore, it is to be understood that the other parts of the shocker asa Whole may be of any suitable design, although I prefer to apply myimprovements to shockers having the general .con- I struction shown anddescribed in the patents hereinbefore mentioned, and, accord ngly, in

the accompanying drawings have exemplifiedthem in that form ofmachine.

Those familiar with the art will understand that as the several bundlesof grain are deposited in a pile on the receiving deck in anapproximately horizontal position with their butt ends toward the rear,and to deposit the shock upon the ground, the receiving deckis turned toan approximately vertical position,usually somewhat beyond a verticalposition,-it is important that movement of the deck from its receivingto its discharging position be so accomplished as not to materiallydisturb or disarrange the several bundlesvmekine up th r le.- U u y theP -i5 made upof eight bundles, although the number may of course bevaried, and ifthe re- ,ceivingdeck be started suddenly, disarrangementof the bundles is apt to result from the.

jar, and consequentlywhen the shock is deposited upon the ground it maynot stand firmly, or some of the bundles may fall away, thereby ruiningthe shock. Again, itis de sir-able that after the tilting movement, ofthe receiving deckis started, its speed be ac vcele ated until itreaches the dumping'posi-I i on, Wheir -t h l jbe' g ve afi d 11 pulsecalculated to set theshock firmly on the ground in an upright position;also it is desira'ble thatthe return movement of therecciving deck beaccomplished quickly, and that such return movement; be slowed down asit approaches its initial or bundle receiv ing position to avoidslamming it down on theshocker frame, which might result in damage tosome ,of the parts. These movements of the receiving deck are made intimed relation to the operation of other parts. of the shocker, and,therefore, must be accurately controlled, and effected during uniformtime intervals, and thepriine object of myinvention is to providemeansby which the receiving deck may be actuated in the manner above pointedout as desirable. This object I accomplish asillustrated in the drawingsand hereinafter described. What I regard as new is set forth in theclaims. i

In the accompanying drawings- Fig. 1 isa partial plan view of a shockershowing the receiving deck in its bundle" receiving positlon, some partsbeing 1n sec- H 1 v, t. ,7 Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section online 2 -2 ofF 1, also with the receiving deck in its initial or bundlereceiving vpositiofn; I V

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 with the receiving deck in itsdischarging position; and e I Fig. 4 is adetail, being a, partialvertical cross-section on line 4,4 of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings- 5 indicates the-frame of the shocker, whichis supported on ground wheels 6, 7 adjacent to the ends thereof, as bestshown in Fig. 1. These wheels are mounted on spindles 8, 9 carried byarms 10, 11, respectively, which arms are pivoted on vertical shafts 12,13 so that they may swing transversely to steer the wheels.

A connecting rod 14: connects the free ends of the arms 10, 11 so thatthey move in unison. Preferably, the shocker frame may be verticallyadjusted with respect to the wheel spindles in accordance with the levelof the harvester associated therewith, as pointed out in Kellogg PatentNo. 1,626,612, for which purpose an upright rack 15 is provided at eachside of the shocker frameand is carried by the wheel mounting. Each ofthese racks is engaged by a worm 16 at the lower end of a vertical shaft17 journaled upon the shocker frame, as best shown in Fig. 4. The shafts17 preferably extend up through the vertical shafts 12, 13, which aretubular as shown in Fig. 1. The shafts 17 may be rotated to rotate theworms 16 by cranks 18 that engage their squared upper ends, as shown inthe latter figure.

Mounted on the shocker frame is a power shaft 19 which may be driveneither from the bull wheel of the harvester through a suitable flexibleconnection, as described in said Kellogg patents, or may be driven inany other suitable way. This power shaft carries a driving gear wheel20, shown in Figs. 2 and 3, which meshes with a driven gear wheel 21,the latter being loosely mounted on a crank shaft 22 arranged parallelwith the power shaft 19. Connected with the driven gear 21 is a clutchmember'23 that is fast with said gear, and is also loosely mounted onthe crank shaft 22. Associated with the clutch member 23 is a clutchmember 24 that is fast on the crank shaft 22 and is adapted to beoperatively connected with the clutch member 23 by any suitable means,such for example as that shown and described in Kellogg Patent No.1,626,612.

The devices for operatively connecting said clutch members together arenormally held out of operative position by the engagement of the lowerarms 25 of trip lever 26 with a. dog 27 that forms a part of the clutchmechanism, as shown in Fig. 4h. The trip lever 26 is pivotally mountedat 28 on the shocker frame, preferably on a bracket 29, and its arm 25is normally held in position to intercept the dog 27 and hold the clutchmembers out of operative engagement with each other by a spring 30, oneend of which is connected with the trip lever 26 and the other end withan ear 31 that forms a part of the bracket 29. The arrangement is theusual one by which when the trip lever is in its normal position itholds the clutch connecting devices controlled by the dog 27 out ofoperative engagement with each other, but when said trip lever isactuated to move its arm 25 out of engagement with the dog 27, therelease of such dog connects the two clutch members 23, 2 1 together. The driven wheel 21 and clutch member 23 constantly rotate, and theclutch member 2% is normally stationary. Therefore, when the two clutchmembers are connected the clutch member 2 1 rotates with the drivenwheel 21 and con sequently rotates the crank shaft 22. In practice thetrip lever 26 is released immediately after it has been actuated, sothat it at once returns to its operative position and its arm 25accordingly engages the dog 27 when the clutch member 2% has made onecomplete rotation, which disconnects it from the clutch member 23 andstops the rotation of the crank shaft 22.

The trip lever 26 is actuated in timed relation to the operation ofother parts of the shocker by means of an arm 32 carried by and rotatingwith a shaft 33, which, in the present instance, is a horizontal shaftthat forms a part of the drive for the knotter mechanism by which thebundles are tied. The arm 32 rotates about the axis of the shaft 33, andit is so arranged that in its rotary movement it is adapted to engage.an arm 34: carried by the trip lever 26, as shown in Fig. 4, to actuatesaid trip lever and throw the clutch mechanism into operation. Theknotter shaft 33 may be driven in any suitable way, as for example inthe manner described in said Kellogg patents. The parts as thus fardescribed are all old, and, therefore, they have been described only tothe extent necessary to a clearunderstanding of the improvements withwhich this application has to do.

Referring now more particularly to Figs. 2 and 3, 35 indicates thebundle receiving deck or platform, which is a frame of suitable form andconstruction'to receive a pile of bundles sufficient in number to make ashock. This receiving deck is pivotally mounted on the shocker frame toswing about a transverse aXis, and is so located that it discharges theshock rearwa rdly. In the illustrated construction it is mounted on atransverse shaft '36 secured to the rear portion of the shocker frame 5.As shown in said figures, the shaft 36 is located nearer the rear marginof the deck 35 than its front margin, as usual.

Preferably, the deck is provided with a number of upright prongs 37, 38,39, to aid in holding the bundles in position, as disclosed in the saidKellogg patents. The several bundles going to make up the shock arepiled on the deck 35 with their butt ends to the rear, or to the rightas shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and when the pile is completed the bundlesare tied'together by a loop of twine,

after which the deck is tilted to rock it about the shaft 36 as an axisto approximately the position shown in full lines in Fig. 3, therebydepositing the shock on the ground in an upright position. The prongs37, 38, 39 are withdrawn from the shock by the forward movement .of themachine.

In building up the shock on the receiving deck .35 it is desirable thatthe pile be kept as nearly level as possible, andto compensate for thegreater of the butt ends of the bundles I provide for maintaining the,receiving deck vnormally in an inclined position with its rear endlowermost, as shown in Fig. 2. This is accomplished through theoperating connections by which the receiving deck is tilted, as witl bepresentlyexpilained.

The mechanism bywihich the receiving deck is rocked to its dischargingposition, and returned to its normal position after the shock has beendeposited, comprises an arm 40 that is ,pivotally supported at its upperend upon a transversely disposed pivot 41 carried by a standard42 thatrises from the shocker frame, as best shown in Fig. 4. The upper end ofsaid standard is braced by a brace 43.

The arm 40 hangs pendulous from the pivot 41 so that it may swing foreand aft adjacent to acrank 44 at the free end of the crank shaft22,.asbest shown in Figs. 2 and 8. Thecrank 44 is provided with a wrist pin 45which preferably carries a roller 46, and is arranged to travel in alongitudinal slot L7 in :the arm 40. The :lower portion of this slot iscurved rearwardly as shown insaidifigures, and it will be understoodthatwhen the crank shaft 22 rotates thearm 40 will beswung fore and aft bythe rotation of the wrist pin 4:5.

about the axis .of the vcrank shaft,'and that.

by reason of thecurvatureofthe slotetf? a differential movement will beimparted to the arm 40 so that its speed at'differentpoints in itsstroke will be varied accordingly. The lower end portion of the arml iOis connected by apitman 48-with=theunder sideofthe receiving deck'3'5ata point-back of its pivotal support 86, 49 indicating the point ofconnectionrof the pitman with the receiving deck and 50 its pivotalconnection Withthe arm 40.

The pitm'an 48 is preferably made in two parts connected by ascrew-threaded coupling 51, so that its length-cmay'beadjustedto'regulate thenormalzp'ositionof thedeck 35. Manifestly,by increasingor shorteningthe length of the ,pitman the inclination of therreceivingdeck when in its normal position may be varied to meet diverse operatingconditions, but its length should besuchthat the receiving deck isnormally gentlyinc'lined to a suflicient extentto. compensate forithe.extra thickness of the 'butt ends" of the bundles sothat the pile goingto make up the shockwill be level enough to make it stable.

As has been explained, it is des1rable'that thedumpingmovement of thereceiving deck be started slowly,-and-to that end theparts are soarranged with reference 'to'each other that when the crank :44 startstomove after the clutch mechanism 'has been thrown into operation,theroller 46 will at first travel a part of the slot .47 that isvcurvedapproximately concentrically with the axis of the crank, flonsequentl-y,the movement of the rc zl'erec inlthe slot awn-1 start the rearward movme t of -rthe arm. .40 ,qui-te slowly. Shortly beyond the startingposition, how.- .ever, the curvature of the slot 47 approaches a radialposition,.so that the. speed of the arm 40 is greatly accelerated untilthefull .discharging position of the receiving deck is reached, at whichtime a final dumping impulse is given to it, to cause it to deposit theshock firmly and squarely on the ground. This position is shown in Fig.3. After the shock has "been discharged from the deck .35 and releasedfrom the prongs 13,7, 88, 39, the continued rotation of thecrank carriesits roller 4L6 into the upper straight portion of the slot 47, atwhichti ine said roller is traveling' forwardly through the upper arc,of its cycle, and the slot is more nearly in radial relation to sucharc, with the'result' that the arm40 is swung forward rapidly toward its50 initial position, but before it reaches such position the roller 46will have moved dow wardtin the slot 471 00 a .point where it istraversing. apart of the slot that is more nearly'concentric with thearctraversed by the roller, and consequently the movement of loaded thebundles are not apt to be disarranged or disturbed, the shock isdeposited properly on the ground, and the receiving deck'is returnedquickly and smoothly to lts initial position,- so that there is littledanger of damaging theoperating parts.

Obviously,1instead of providing the arm 40 withia slot, and thecrank'f44 with a pin and roller to move in such slot, the crank could beprovided with a shoe to slide along a guideway carriediby the arm 40 andshaped to conform to the curvature of the slot, such being substantiallyamere reversal ofzthe arrangementshow-n. In other respects also myinvention includes such changes or modifications as would occur to thoseskilled in the art.

Iclaim;

1. :In agrainshocker of the type wherein bundles of grain are piled on areceiving deck adapted to be tilted to set the shock on the ground, thecombination with a suitable frame and a bundle receiving deck tiltablymounted thereon, of mechanism for tilting said deck comprising a crank,means for rotating the same, and means operatively connecting the crankwith said deck including a member differentially actuated by said crankto start the tilting movement of the deck slowly, and then acceleratesuch movement to the point of discharge.

2. In a grain shocker of the type identified in claim 1, the combinationwith a suitable frame and a bundle receiving deck tiltably mountedthereon, of mechanism for tilting said deck comprising a crank, meansfor rotating the same, and means operatively connecting the crank withsaid deck including a member differentially actuated by said crank tostart the tilting movement of the deck slowly, and then accelerate suchmovement to the point of discharge, and after the discharge of the shockto return the deck to its normal position, slowing down its movement asit nears the latter position. I

3. In a grain shocker of the type identified in claim 1, the combinationwith a suitable frame and a bundle receiving deck tiltably mountedthereon, of mechanism for tilting said deck comprising a pitmanoperatively connected with said deck, an actuating device mounted on theframe, and means interposed between said pitman and said actuatingdevice for differentially actuating said pitman to start the tiltingmovement of the deck slowly, and then accelerate such movement.

4. In a grain shocker of the type identified in claim 1, the combinationwith a suitable frame and a bundle receiving deck tiltably mountedthereon, of mechanism for tilting said deck comprising a pitmanoperatively connected with said deck, a crank mounted on the frame,means for rotating said crank, and means interposed between said pitmanand crank for differentially actuating said pitman to start the tiltingmovement of the deck slowly, and then accelerate such movement.

5. In a grain shocker of the type identified in claim 1, the combinationwith a suitable frame and a bundle receiving deck tiltably mountedthereon, of mechanism for tilting said deck comprising a swinging membermounted on the frame, means for differentially actuating said swingingmember to vary the speed thereof, and an operating connection betweensaid swinging member and the deck.

6. In a grain shocker of the type identified in claim 1, the combinationwith a suitable frame and a bundle receiving deck tiltably mountedthereon, of mechanism for tilting said deck comprising a swinging membermounted on the frame, a crank, connecting means between said swingingmember and said crank adapted to difierentially actuate said swingingmember to vary the speed thereof, and an operating connection betweensaid swinging member and the deck.

7. In. a grain shocker of the type identified in claim 1, thecombination with a suitable frame and abundle receiving deck tiltablymounted thereon, of mechanism for tilting said deck comprising aswinging member mounted on the frame, a crank, connecting means betweensaid swinging member and said crank adapted to differentially actuatesaid swinging member to vary the speed thereof, and a pitman connectedwith said swinging member and with the deck for tilting the deck by theswinging of said member.

8. In a grain shocker of the type identified in claim 1, the combinationwith a suitable frame and a bundle receiving deck tiltably mountedthereon, of mechanism for tilting said deck comprising a. swingingmember mounted on the frame, a crank, connecting means between saidswinging member and said crank adapted to differentially actuate saidswinging member to vary the speed thereof, and a pitman connected withsaid swinging member and with the deck for til"- ing the deck by theswinging of said member, said pitman being adjustable to vary theoperative length thereof.

9. In a grain shocker of the type identified in claim 1, the combinationwith a suitable frame and a b mdle receiving deck tiltably mountedthereon of mechanism for tilting said deck comprising a swinging armmounted on the frame and having a curved longitudinally extending slot,a crank engaging in said slot for swinging said arm by the rotation ofsaid crank, and means operatively connecting said arm with said deck.

10. In a grain shocker of the type identified in claim 1, thecombination with a suit able frame and a bundle receiving deck tiltablymounted thcreon, of mechanism for tilting said deck comprising aswinging arm mounted on the frame and having a curved longitudinallyextending slot, a crank ing in said slot for swinging said arm by therotation of said crank, and a aitman connecting said arm with said deck.

11. In a grain shocker of the type identified in claim 1, thecombination with a suitable frame and a bundle receiving deck tiltablymounted thereon, of mechanism for tilting said deck comprising aswinging arm mounted on the frame and having a curved longitudinallyextending slot, a crank engaging in said slot for swinging said arm bythe rotation of said crank, and a pitman connecting said arm with saiddeck, said pitman being adjustable to Vary the operative length thereof.

12. In a grain shocker of the type identitled in claim 1, thecombination with a suitable frame and a bundle receiving deck tiltablymounted thereon, of mechanism for tilting said deck comprising a crankmounted on the frame, means for rotating said frame, an arm pivotallymounted at its upper end on said frame to swing fore and aft, a pitmanconnecting the lower end portion of said arm with the deck, and adiflierentially operating connection between said crank and said arm forvarying the movement of said arm effected by the rotation of said crank.

13. In a grain shocker of the type identified in claim 1, thecombination with a suitable frame and a bundle receiving deck tiltablymounted thereon, of mechanism for tilting said deck comprising anactuating element adapted to rotate at substantially I constant speed,and variable speed mechanlsm interposed between said actuating elementand the deck for efi'ecting'the tilting of the deck by an initially slowmovement with subsequent acceleration of the speed thereof. I

14;. In a grain shocker of the type identified in claim 1, thecombination with a suitable frame and a bundle receiving deck tiltablymounted thereon, of mechanism for tilting said deck comprising anactuating element adapted to rotate at substantially V constant speed,and variable speed mechanism interposed between said actuating elementand the deck for effecting the tilting of the deck by an initiallyslowmovement with subsequent acceleration of the speed thereof,followed, after the shock has been discharged, by deceleration of themovement of the deck as it nears its normal position.

15. In a grain shocker of the type identified in claim 1, thecombination with a suitable frame, and a bundle receiving deck pivotallymounted thereon and normally supported in a downwardly and rearwardlyinclined position, of mechanism for tilting said deck comprising anactuatingelement adapted to rotate at substantially constant speed,

and variable speed mechanism interposed between said actuating elementand theadeck for effecting the tilting of the deck by an initially slowmovement with subsequent acceleration of the speed thereof.

16. In a grain shocker of the-type identified in claim 1, thecombination with a suitable frame, and a bundle receiving deck.

pivotally mounted thereon and normally sup- ROBER o. LIVESAY.

deck as

